Off to South Carolina...

Pennsylvania Ave. is off on the campaign trail in South Carolina this week to monitor whether Rick Santorum's lofty political aspirations survive beyond Saturday's primary.

We'll be with Santorum as he makes a last ditch appeal to social conservative voters, who so far have been unable to coalesce around one candidate. And while the race may appear all but decided with front runner Mitt Romneysecuring 37 percent of the support in South Carolina, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, Santorum's hope is that he can convince supporters of Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry to shift their allegiance and maybe, just maybe, surpass Romney and live on to Florida.

But Santorum also hopes he can steal some support from Romney, as evidenced by a TV ad he began airing Monday comparing Romney to President Obama. "Why would we ever vote for someone who is just like Obama?" a voiceover asks.

Santorum's greatest foe, Gingrich, would likely agree, and using a similar attack, he's pushing back at Santorum, saying he's the only conservative in the race who can beat Romney.

"Any conservative who votes for anyone but Newt helps elect a moderate as the nominee," Gingrich said in South Carolina, according to The Hill. Then taking a hit at Santorum, he said, "Evangelical voters would like to have a nominee that will win a general election, and somebody who set the all-time Pennsylvania record for the size of their defeat has a harder case to make as to why they could be elected."

With all of the back and forth it should be a fun few days in South Carolina. We'll be on the road a lot, but blog readers can follow our trip on the trail through our Twitter handle @DCMorningCall.